Final Fantasy XIII 1. prologue

**Prologue  
**

Far away on the other side.  
Caught in the middle of a hundred and five  
The night was heavy and the air was alive  
But she couldn't find how to push through  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
Far away on the other side  
_ ~ Moonlight shadow_

Claire Farron slipped out of her bedroom window on the first floor and landed softly in the garden. She paused for a moment, listening for signs that any of her family had stirred. It was very unlikely that they would have. She had been sure to make no noise at all and they were all heavy sleepers. Besides, they hadn't ever woken up all the times she had snuck out. Sure enough, she heard nothing. But for once, she wished someone had woken. She wished someone would see her, ask her where she was going, tell her to come back in, that she shouldn't be out so late.

She paused again at the top of the stone wall that bordered the small garden, hesitating. She wanted to go back, crawl back in and curl up underneath the covers. But that wouldn't be fair. Not to herself. Not to Fang. Shame washed over her for even thinking of such a traitorous action. She allowed herself one last wistful backward glance and sealed away the rest of that weakness.

She made the rest of the journey without any other second thoughts, though her dread increase with every step. There was nobody around, there never was. She used to love the silence. The way it seemed as if this time was especially for them and only them. Now it seemed oppressive, threatening to smother her. At last, she reached her destination, the very edge of Oerba where the waves from the lake lapped at the stone foundation. She leaned against the barrier, looking up at Cocoon. The source of all her troubles. She sighed. Moments later, she heard soft footsteps before strong arms wrapped around her waist and a low voice whispered into her ear.

"What's with the sigh, Sunshine?" An accented voice teased her lightly. She remained silent, heart pounding whilst she tried to find the words to tell her. "Claire?" The voice asked, worried. She bit her lip. It broke her heart, but she disentangled the arms around her waist and pulled them way. Turning around, she pushed the pulsian away gently.

"Claire?" Repeated the taller girl. She moved to take a step forward, but the pink haired girl held up a hand to stop her. She tilted her head, expression anxious, but respected the other's decision.

"We can't-I-" The Cocoon native struggled to find the words, hating herself. This was their time. Now she was spoiling it, tainting it. "I'm moving." she finally said. "Back to Cocoon." The words hung in the still night air, echoing slightly through the lonely late night streets. She could see the millions of thoughts racing behind those sparkling emerald eyes as they struggled to comprehend her words, to understand what it meant, what it would do to them. Had this been another time, perhaps Claire may have teased her about actually thinking for once. But it wasn't another time. It wasn't a time like their previous moments together shared in laughter and smiles. Finally Fang swallowed.

"When?" She didn't ask why. They both knew why. The tensions between Gran Pulse and Cocoon were rising. It was just small fights breaking out before. Naively, they thought I had nothing to do with them. But now those fights were steadily getting more and more serious. Serious enough for the Farron family to have to leave, however much Claire wanted to stay, however much she prayed they could stay.

"Tomorrow." And they stood there in silence that followed her words, heads hung and thoughts in memories. Suddenly, Fang crossed the distance, wrapping the smaller girl in her arms.

"Claire." the word sounded strangled, choked. Her shoulders shook and Claire realised she was crying. The ever strong, loud mouthed, arrogant, annoying and beautiful Oerba Yun Fang was crying. The gravity of the situation hit her fully, hit her hard. _She was leaving. _And Fang..Fang was _crying._ Suddenly, she couldn't bear to be there. Panic and confusion filled her along with irrational urge to escape. She _had_ to get away. _Now_. She pulled away.

"I'm sorry."

"Claire?" Fang reached for her.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, hardly knowing what she was saying. "I'm sorry." She backed away. "I'm sorry, Fang." She turned and ran.

"Claire! Wait!" She could hear the raw desperation in that usually smooth voice. It scared her. She wasn't strong enough for this. She didn't stop. Footsteps followed her. Fang called out again. "Claire! Watc-" A shot rang out over her words, followed by a gasp of pain. She spun around to see Fang standing strangely. Bent forward slightly as if in the act of falling, but time had decided to freeze just for a moment.

"Die Cocoon scum!" the drunken slur came from somewhere to her left. She looked, shocked to see a man there. A man with a gun, illuminated in the moonlight. He stumbled a little, raising it again.

"No!" she heard a dry rasp from Fang as the girl moved in front of her. She couldn't do anything, caught off guard by the blur of events as another shot rang out and the force of the second bullet sent her spinning to the ground with an empty thud. Suddenly, she heard shouts of others and some villagers appeared, drawn by the sound of gunshots. Suddenly the night was alive, the usual empty peace they sought was shattered by the presence of too many people.

"Fang!" she knelt at her side, cradling her head. Blood was soaking through her sari.

"Claire." came the weak reply. "You waited." this statement was followed by her trademark smirk, albeit slightly frail.

"Idiot." she sobbed.

"Hey, hey. No crying," she reached up clumsy hand to wipe away the tears. "Geez. You're as bad as Vanille, ya know?" Another shaky breath. "I'll be okay. Oerba Yun Fang is invincible!" the proud proclamation was marred by a wheezing cough.

"Stop talking." Claire scolded gently, still half crying. She gripped her pulsian's hand tightly.

"You're still crying." Fang pointed out. "It ain't fair for such a pretty girl to cry, eh? Smile, Sunshine." She tried to, only managing a shaky replica of one. "That's good." Fang whispered, eyes fluttering. Claire's heart lurched as Fang's grip slackened.

"Fang!" She fought to keep her eyes open.

"Promise...you'll wait for me? I'll find you...when this is all over..."

"I promise. Fang..." she was crying again. "You'd better not die on me.."

"I won't." bright emerald eyes found blue sapphires.

"How do you know?" She couldn't understand how she could be so positive. But then again, that was Fang all over. Fang smirked, whispering her answer. "I'll hold you to it, Snaggletooth."

"I wouldn't expect any less." Her eyes closed and Claire stepped back to allow the villagers to carry Fang away.

She would walk in the opposite direction, and wander the streets, dazed and blank until she finally got her bearings. By then it would be morning and her family would be shocked at her bloodshot eyes and bloodstained clothes. They would ask her endless questions. She would answer none. Eventually they would leave her to shower and change so that they could be on their way out of Gran Pulse. Just as planned. By three in the afternoon, the train would pull into Cocoon. And only when she disembarked and exited the station, stepping out into the artificial planet would she allow herself to think of Fang's answer.

_"Because when prayers turn into promises, nothing can stand in their way."_

And hope.

* * *

**My brain told me I had exams soon. Unfortunately, my common sense was on holiday and my idiot sense was standing in. Naturally, it ignored my brain. They aren't on good terms. Anyway, R&R please. **

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	2. Chapter 1: part I

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* * *

**Chapter 1- part I**

Recall those days, look back on all those times

Think of those things we'll never do

There will never be a day

When I won't think of you

~ _Think of Me_

Lightning Farron pulled her gunblade from it's holster and leveled it with a flick to switch it to gun mode. She tracked her prey's movement easily from where she stood at the top of the building. She paused for a moment, lingering on his chest before moving slightly to fire a shot directly in front of him. Without waiting to see if it hit where she wanted-she knew it would. _It always did-_ she launched herself from the lip of the roof with an agile flip.

The bullet impacted on the ground at the man's feet just as she landed. She took two long strides forward, flicking her weapon once more. The man reacted, turning away from where the bullet had cracked the pavement and taking a single step in the opposite direction before freezing like a deer caught in the headlights.

A natural reaction when there was a really sharp pointy object, in this case a gunblade, an inch away from his neck and an expressionless soldier, in this case with pink hair, less than an arm's length away who looked like she wanted nothing more than to introduce his throat with said pointy object. In another instant, his cheek was pressed to the cold hard ground, there was a knee digging into his back, his wrists were being cuffed and he was feeling much like the deer a few seconds after it'd been caught in the headlights- like he'd been hit by a truck.

* * *

She watched as the officers on duty took the snatch thief into lock up and then turned on her heel to make her way back to her office. She had been walking back from lunch in a nearby cafe when she had spotted him running away. Instinctively, -Serah would complain- she had gone after him. Her mind wandered to her sister. They had fought. Again. It seemed like they were always fighting these days. About herself not being home enough. Or Snow.

Her lip curled and her hand reached for her gunblade. She stopped halfway to completing the action, much to the relief of a group of corporals and privates who thought she was going to murder them. It wasn't to hard to imagine, with the way her cold eyes burned with a dark fury. She pushed open the door to her office, unintentionally slamming it shut, and slumped in her chair. She stared blankly at the door for a few moments before resting her elbows on her desk and burying her head in her hands.

They had fought last night. It hadn't been different from their usual fights except for the one fact that instead of running to her room and slamming the door, Serah had _ran out of the house._ And she had been too stubborn, too _proud,_ to run after her. _She'll be back,_ she had thought to herself. But she was wrong. Morning came and there was no sign of Serah.

_She's probably at Snow's, _she had thought, still bitter. But the day had worn at her and by now, by noon, she was worried. She wanted nothing more than to get the rest of the day of and go look for her, or even try to _call her, _even if she probably wouldn't answer. But she couldn't. That Etro-be-damned pride wouldn't _let_ her. She lifted her head, hands dropping to grip the edge of her table. She studied her hands, watching the way her knuckles turned white and the wood cracked slightly.

Slowly, she relaxed her death grip, trying to calm herself. She glanced around the room in search of a distraction. The form at the top of her stack of paperwork caught her eye. The l'cie project.

In light of the end of the war, the l'cie project was established to better connections between the two worlds. Natives from both worlds, Guardian Core from Cocoon and Hunters from Gran Pulse would be united in one team. They would alternate weeks between both worlds, fixing the damage caused during the war. Forming ties and such along the way.

To say she wanted to go was an understatement. Pulse was where she belonged. The four years she spent there before the war were the best years of her life. Fresh air and untamed wilds. A challenge. That was what she lived for. She had never missed anything more except her parents. But there was Serah. There was always Serah. She couldn't leave her sister and go to Gran Pulse, even for a week. She shook her head. Her thoughts had gone a full circle back to Serah. Of course they had. _Everything_ she did _revolved_ around Serah.

But she wanted to. She had never wanted anything this much. To be back on Pulse. She leaned back, pulling out her gunblade in a well practised motion. She ran an idle hand across the flat side of the blade. She missed hunting. The only things she hunted now were dumb thugs. _And I can't even kill them_, she thought humorlessly. She sighed, reaching into the pouch strapped to her thigh. As usual, her fingers brushed against crisp paper before touching cold metal as she drew out a bullet. Sliding it into the one empty chamber, she thought of when she used to hunt.

That life had been perfect. Waking up in the mornings, breakfast with her family, maybe going with Serah to the markets, lunch, hunting in the evenings. A green eyed huntress popped up in her mind... sneaking out late at night to be with Fang... And there it was. Her daily thought of Fang. Every day for the past four years, without fail.

No one had known, of course. Nobody in her family knew Fang _existed_. And was the way she kept it. That was the way she wanted it. And of course she couldn't help wondering...did Fang ever think of her? Was Fang even still alive?

The last time she saw her was with her blood staining her clothes and pooling on the stone floor. Even if she had survived that, there was still the war. Had Fang fought in it? Did she decide not too? For Claire's sake? Even if she hadn't several towns in Gran Pulse had been destroyed. Fang could easily have been one of the casualties. She sighed once more, sheathing her gunblade. She closed her eyes, and for the first time, Lightning Farron slept on duty.

* * *

_The train arrived in Gran Pulse and with it, the Farron's. First out was the father, carrying what little of their luggage that had not been sent on. Following him, the mother nudged out a shy little girl, the younger of the two sisters. Her eyes were wide as she took in her surroundings, a little afraid of this new world they were going to live on. She glanced back at her older sister, the last __Farron. Her sibling smiled at her reassuringly and took her other hand as she herself disembarked the train_._ And they exited the station._

_Claire Farron stared out at the new world with wide eyes. But unlike her sister, it was not with uncertainty and fear, but rather, with awe. A smile played on her lips as she watched a great monster, at least the size of a house stomp past, just a few metres away. She was going to like it here._

* * *

**Yeah, so this is how it's gonna be. I was thinking each song, different chapter etc, but like this chapter...it'd be too short. So I'm gonna separate out parts. I, II, III etc. But the good news is each part won't be too far apart like regular chapters. I'm already almost done with the second part. Two days? Something like that. Maybe even at the same time for others. Maybe there won't have to be any separate parts at all. I don't know. Just seeing how it goes. Anyway, R&R please. Feedback is needed to avoid stupid writing.**

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**(-.-) Unamused bunny dema- actually, it doesn't. You could be waiting for part**

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	3. Chapter 1: part II

**Again, thanks for all the stuff (review's fav's etc)**

**RatedRSuperStar87: This is how you do it, fool!**

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**Guest: DDR? I think I played it once or twice. If I recall...I sucked at it :(**

**Megamar: You'll find out this chapter :P**

* * *

**Chapter 1: part II**

When I love you,

It's so untrue

I can't even convince myself

When I'm speaking,

It's the voice of someone else.

_~ Broken Strings_

It was late evening by the time she set off for home. Although her nap had washed away some of the weariness, it had done nothing for her anxiety. Would Serah be home when she returned? Had she worried for nothing? Maybe she was overthinking this. Serah had probably walked out to calm herself down. The reason she hadn't returned in the morning was to avoid seeing Lightning. She would have came back when she was sure Lightning was gone. All very good reasons. So why wasn't she convinced?

She paused mid-step as she reached the corner. Breathing out slowly, she steadied herself before turning down the street to her home. The light was on. Lightning had never felt more relieved to see it so. In fact, such observation on a normal night was a trigger for guilt. Because she knew then that Serah had stayed up late waiting for her and that if she was awake a fight would await them. If she was asleep on the couch, well, all the more guilt to be felt.

But that wasn't the case this time. It was relatively early and Lightning was more relieved than her pride would ever let her admit. Her pace down the street was admittedly a bit quicker than normal and she didn't open the door so much as flinging it open. She ran up the stairs.

"Serah?" She called out, walking ino her sister's room. She froze. Serah was there, alright. But there was a bag on her bed. A bag which was steadily filling up with clothes and posessions. "Serah?" She repeated, voice softer. Her sister didn't look at her, putting the last of her stuff into the bag and zipping it up.

"You're home early." Was all her sister said.

"Ser-"

"So you can, huh? You actually can come home early sometimes?" Serah picked up her bag, striding to the door. Her head was down. Lightning reached out and stopped her.

"Don't go." It was all she could manage. Serah looked at her for the first time. Lightning was startled to see tears in those blue eyes. Her voice had given nothing away... Then those blue eyes flashed with hurt and anger.

"It's a little too late for that. Why didn't you say that yesterday?" she strode on, starting down the stairs. Lightning followed.

"Serah I-" she struggled to say _'I'm sorry' _but she couldn't. The same thing stopped her as before. Her pride.

"You what? Are you trying to say you're sorry? Or is the great Lightning Farron too proud to say that? Oh wait, but the great Lightning Farron is never wrong, is she?" Lightning flinched.

"I never said that." Serah spun around to face her.

"You never said you were sorry either! Face it Lightning! You say a lot of things, but you never say the right ones!"

"So what did you expect me to do? Approve with your relationship with that idiot who runs around acting like a damn hero?"

"I expected you to try! At least try to get to know him! I expected you to follow me when I walked out this door yesterday! I expected you to try to find me in the morning, or at least call!"

"You wouldn't have listened to me even if I had!"

"How the hell would you know! That's you're problem, you know? You think you know everything, but you don't! Everything about you is so cold, so practical. Do you know what it's like, living with you? Do you even have any feelings at all?"

"Everything I've ever done was for you! When Mom and Dad-"

"Sometimes I wish you died too!" Lightning took a step back, shock written on her face. "Ever since we moved back to Cocoon, you've never been the same. You never talked to me anymore, you didn't care. Admit it, you cared more about Gran Pulse than me!"

"Nothing matters more than you! My whole damn life _revolves_ around you!"

"But at that time you did. The only reason you started taking notice of me was because Mom and Dad died. You felt some sort of moral obligation to, you didn't do it because you cared." Lightning stared at her.

"Of course I did,-"

"It was never going to work out, Lightning. You're not Claire anymore."

"So what now? You're going to run of to Snow- Let me guess. Because he cares about you?"

"More than you do." Serah turned and opened the door.

"Serah-"

"You always say you became Lightning when our parents died. That's another lie. You were already Lightning. Ever since we left Pulse." And then she was gone, out the door. Claire wanted to stop her. She reached out a hand for Serah. And Lightning closed the door and turned away. Blue eyes full of tears. Claire realised she was looking in a mirror. She blinked slowly and Lightning walked away.

In an almost robotic way, she took a soda from the kitchen and went up on the roof. Reclining against the tiles with a soda and a beautiful sunset and whilst Claire Farron wept at the thought of her sister, gone, Lightning Farron pondered her new life, free of moral obligations.

* * *

"Sooo..." The drawn out word broke the silence between the two pulsians. Oerba Yun Fang looked up from her drink, glancing at her companion. "You broke up with her, then?" Oerba Ska Radiance asked.

"Yeah, Ray. Why do you think I'm sitting here in a bar with you?" Fang replied, continuing to nurse her drink. The other shrugged, taking a sip from her own drink from her place leaning back against the counter.

"Because you enjoy my company?" Fang snorted, downing the rest of her drink in one go.

"Because I need someone to carry me home later." Ray grimaced.

"I don't remember volunteering." Fang watched the bartender top up her glass.

"You didn't. But you're going to, either way." Ray sighed.

"As long as you don't throw up on me."

"No promises."

"Charming." Ray watched as Fang took another swig of beer. There a silence in which Fang nursed her drink once more and Ray cast her eye around the bar, winking at a few of the prettier girls. Several guys and a girl glared at her.

"Why do you think I can't keep a girl?" Fang asked, suddenly.

"I don't know. Are you drunk yet?" Fang looked at her fourth glass and finished it in another swig.

"Not quite."

"I think you should have this conversation with Vanille. But if you really want my opinion, once you introduce me to them, you've got no chance."

"Ha ha har. Now, seriously." She finished of half of her fifth. Her speech slurred slightly. Ray hesitated.

"Maybe you just didn't click. I didn't think Hemlock was your type though. Speaking of which, what is your type?" Fang shrugged, forehead creasing as she thought.

"Someone capable, I guess. A challenge..." She had moved on to her sixth and came up substantially more tipsy. "Light haired...nice eyes..." she hiccupped.

"All of which does not describe your beloved Dia Hemlock. Did you date her just because Vanille suggested it?"

"Let's change the subject. I came here to forge-hic- her, after all."

"Hmm." She took another sip and shook her head as once again, Fang's glass was empty. "What do you think of that campaign of theirs? The l'cie project, I think?" Fang growled.

"I think those bloody vipers should- hic- stay in their damn nests."

"I take it you won't join?"

"Bloody hell I won't!" She downed her seventh glass as if in a toast.

"Do you remember a girl, last time?"

"There are tons of girls, Ray."

"She came about nine years ago. You were twelve." Fang frowned, struggling through the cloud alcohol had brought.

"From...where-hic-?"

"Cocoon." Fang stared at her. "You were quite close if I remember."

"Well," Fang growled, "That was before the war. And what are you-hic- trying to say?"

"I'm just saying. You didn't hate them so much last time."

"Well, that was before they destroyed almost all of Oerba, wasn't it?" Her voice was raised a little.

"But do you remember her?" Fang shook her head, accompanied with another swig of beer. And that marked the end of her eighth.

"Wa'ss it matterrr?" she slurred. Ray shrugged.

"Remember you were shot? And you lost your memories for a while? Just doing my duty as a best friend."

"One less viper is a good thing if you ask meeee." Fang chuckled, more than a little tipsy. Just a little less than drunk, actually. "And Vanille's my best friend. Not you. Idiooot."

"Vanille's your sister best friend. I'm more of your rival best friend. Like the sort who'd punch you for calling me an idiot if they weren't worried you'd puke on them." Fang laughed. A girlish sort of giggle that Ray fought to erase from her mind. Such noises were _not _meant to come from her friend's mouth. That was left for Vanille or small little girls who cared about fashion. _Not_ a Yun who could take an Oretoise on her own.

"Are you drunk yet?" She asked Fang. No answer. The warrior was slumped over the bar top her half finished ninth was next to her. Ray leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"That Cocoonian's name was Claire. She had pink hair and blue eyes that you would not stop telling me about. Like, everyday. Seriously. You just would not _stop." _She paused to continue in a softer tone.

"The reason you can't love anyone else is because you love her. Except you forgot. Don't kill me when you find out I've kept this from you, yeah?" Fang snored. Ray sighed. "Let's get you home." Paying the bartender, she slung Fang's arm over her shoulder and hauled her home.

* * *

**Fourth chapter in three weeks? I'm on a roll! Except with exams I'll be rolling to my doom. Nevermind. I shall roll with pride! All the way to a career a McDonald's. Seriously though, I won't be updating this for a while.**

**Anyway, for the next time I update... I need your opinion. Should I:**

**a) Continue as it is**

**b) Make the parts longer/ certain length**

**c) Release all parts at the same time**

**d) Just release chapters like a normal person**

**It's in your hands! Feedback!**

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**(-.- ) Unamused bunny demands it!**

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	4. Chapter 2

**Wheeee TRIALS ARE OVER I'M SO HAPPY. Anyway, so yeah, I just finished my trails. Only my piano practical next week then the real the exam in October left before I'm free for the year. Whoooo! **

**Thanks for all the reviews! **

**Chapter 2**

I'm strong on the surface

Not all the way through

I've never been perfect

But neither have you

_~ Leave out all the rest_

Claire Lightning Farron awoke feeling different. _Empty_, Claire thought. No- Lightning overruled- she felt better. Lighter. No pun intended. As she sat down for a cup of coffee, she closed her eyes. Silence. No sound of Serah moving around upstairs. No knocking at the door by the ignorant idiot, here to see Serah. No voices raised in argument. It occured to Lightning that Serah was the root of almost all her problems. _But she's also the main cause of your happiness_ Claire echoed. Lightning thought about the form lying on the top of all her paperwork.

"Maybe it's time to change that."

* * *

Oerba Yun Fang awoke feeling different. By different she meant she had a splitting headache. She groaned, rolling over to smother herself in her pillow. When her headache had receeded slightly, she turned her head slowly to the bedside table. Though the curtains were still drawn, and for that she was grateful, a little bit of light filtered in. She sat up slowly. Bad idea. She barely made it to the bathroom, staggering into furniture that had sprung up suddenly in her path. She felt a little better once she had thrown up, her stomach churned, though. She stumbled back to bed. Then she noticed an abundance of objects on her bedside.

She picked up the first of these, a note. Written in neat handwritting -Vanille's- she squinted, head throbbing. For all it's neatness, it was too bloody small. It read:

_Hey, Fang! Sorry I couldn't stay here, but they needed me at the hospital. I asked Ray to look after you, so you should be fine._

-Vanille

Noticing the lack of her friend, she picked up the next note. This time it was in the not-so-elegant-because-she-was-in-a-semi-rush scrawl of Ray. It read:

_I've got better things to do than look after someone who might puke on me. I'm not saying what. On a side note, have you realised how pretty Liara is? Anyway, I think I did pretty good. Water, pills and some of my sandwich. Basic necessities. So, yeah. Be back soon. -ish. Don't tell on me or I'll take back my sandwich._

And that was it. Fang grinned, and winced as her head started to throb once more. She took the pills and downed the water. Eyeing the sandwich dubiously, she nibbled a bit. Cheese and ham. Not bad.

Fang woke up again to the sound of someone in the kitchen. Her headache had subsided greatly, having faded to a mere throbbing in the background. Rolling out of bed slowly, she walked down the stairs, wincing slightly at each step. Upon entering the kitchen, she was pleasantly assaulted by the delicious aroma of sizzling steaks. Gui, by the smell of it. She sighed happily, her headache pushed even further away by what she considered to be the most heavenly smell on Gran Pulse. Her sister turned around at the sound. Oh, yes. Her sister was there. Purveyor of the- She stopped thinking, choosing instead to take in the scent. The presence of steak always limited her senses.

Suddenly, she felt arms wrap around her waist. She looked down, confused. Vanille? Wasn't she just by the stove? More importantly, if she was here, who was cooking the steak? She was saying something, looking up at Fang. And Fang decided to listen, because Vanilla was making this food of the Fal 'cie for her after all. She bent her head obediently - keeping sight of the food in the corner of her eye because it would be a waste if it got burnt, wouldn't it? Not that she wouldn't eat it if it was burnt- and said:

"What?" Vanille scowled cutely. Not that she meant to. Do it cutely, not the scowling part. That would be weird. If she didn't mean to scowl but did. Because that would mean she- Anyway, she was simply incapable of scowling scarily. She could grin quite scarily though. Uh-oh. She missed what Vanille said again. "What?" Fang asked again. Vanille stomped. Cutely.

"Fang Yun! Listen properly to what I'm saying!" Fang grinned, still happy from the smell of the steaks.

"Sorry."

"I said, I'm sorry I couldn't be here when you woke up, but now I'm not so sure." She huffed, pouting.

" Sorry." Fang repeated, eye still on the steaks. Vanille sighed.

"You're hopeless- I asked Ray to stay here, but I think she just went somewhere else." Fang remembered the note. And that she owed Ray for carrying her home, so...

"Oh, she was here earlier. She had to leave, though. So I went back to sleep. I had a killer hangover."

"Serves you right. You shouldn't drink so much."

"It was just a one time thing. It's not like I do it every night," Fang replied as Vanille moved back to the stove. She felt quite relieved. A little more and they would have burnt. She sat down at the table, breathing in the intoxicating scent once more. She smiled dreamily. She could live off this scent.

"Shouldn't you be helping with the repairs?" Vanilla asked, putting the steaks on two plates.

"After lunch." Fang replied, mouth watering.

"What makes you think this is for you?" Fang's jaw dropped.

"What?!" She spluttered. "Who else is it for?"

"Someone." Vanille replied teasingly.

"Vannnn," Fang whined, nearly drooling at the sight of her little sister pouring the most delicious of sauces on top of the meat.

Vanille laughed.

"Alright, alright." She down a plate in front of the huntress along with the salt shaker. "Dig in, you." And she did. With slightly alarming ferocity.

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Lightning?" Amodar asked her. He held the form she had just handed him, frowning when he realised what it was. She nodded. " I thought you couldn't go before. What about your sister?"

"She's staying at a friend's."

"For this? Or is that the reason you're going in the first place?" She didn't reply, but her expression told him everything. He sighed. Looking down at the form in his hands, he asked her yet again. "Do you really want this?"

"As I recall, you were the one to ask me." She was right about that.

They needed people with experiences on Pulse for the l'Cie project. Guardian Corps were the home guard during the war. PSICOM had been the one handling all of the attacks on Pulse and despite retriving data and maps as well as photos from the disbanded group, they might as well be going in blind. They needed members who had actually been on Pulse before.

So far, of the twenty members they had gathered, only seven had been outside Cocoon. Five more had only been on the outer layer, repairing the damage done to Cocoon's shell. The remaining seven had flown over Cocoon, but only three had actually touched down on the soil for deliveries or work of some sort before the war. Lightning as by far the best and most invaluable, having actually lived on Pulse for four years.

As her superior, he shouldn't even be hesitating. But as her friend, it wasn't right to let her go just like that. Not with things with Serah as they were. He debated for a moment longer before sighing and giving in. He reached for the pen on his desk.

"I expect you to tell Serah about this." he warned as he signed the form.

"I will, Sir." He handed the form back to her.

"Welcome to the l'cie project, Sergeant."

* * *

"Ahhh." Fang sighed contentedly as she leaned back, hands behind her head. "Now I just need a nap and my life is complete."

"Oh no you don't!" Vanille crossed her arms. "You're going to help with the repairs, you lazy Yun." Fang waved a hand, laughing it off.

"Sure, sure. Let me just take a shower first." She put her plate in the sink, ambling up to her room to do just that. Vanille watched her go before starting to wash up. In truth, she felt a litle guilty. She was the one who set up Fang and Hemlock together, after all. She sighed. It seemed like her best friend could never find someone she truly liked.

She heard the sound of Fang walking down the stairs. She launched herself at her surrogate sister.

"Van?" She could hear the question in her sister's puzzled voice even as strong arms encircled her.

"I'm sorry about Hemlock." Her voice was muffled by Fang's sari.

"It's not your fault, Van."

"But I'm the one who put you two together." She sniffed.

"Hey, hey." A soothing hand rubbed her back. "It was me who didn't make it work out anyway."

"But-"

"No buts." She said sternly. "It's not your fault, Van. You can't force these things. Besides, I'm happy enough that you're trying to help me."

"Really?"

"Of course." She winked. "Also, Ray gets enough girls for the both of us." Vanille let out a shaky laugh.

"I guess so." Fang squeezed her one last time.

"Now, I'll see you later." She kissed her forehead.

"Bye, Fang." She murmured as she pulled away.

"See ya, Van." And with a final smirk and a two fingered salute, she was out the door and gone.

* * *

"Oof." She groaned as the air was knocked fom her lungs. Her vision spun, but she could make out the blue sky above. As well as the hysterical laughing of Ray back up on the roof.

"And the great Ragnarok falls!" She heard someone say. Turning her head, she saw Wakka offering her a hand, a silly grin on his face. He always had a silly grin.

"Ha ha ha."She took it, pulling herself out of the pile of sand she had landed in. It was surprisingly soft, well, softer than landing on the hard ground would have been. Together, they pulled themselves up the supports made of wood and pipes, lashed together with twine and ropes, and scaled the side of the building. Ray was waiting with a smirk on her face.

"Shut up." she grumbled, resuming the repairs. Wakka laughed as Ray closed her mouth with an imaginary zip, but her smirk still stayed.

After two hours of solid work, the roof was fully repaired. Ray sighed, stretching out over the newly laid tiles, her smirk long gone. Wakka mimicked her actions, sitting back and propping himself on his hands. Fang stood up, stretching her arms, back still sore from falling off the roof. Her brow furrowed into a scowl as she observed the rows of damaged buildings spread out before her.

When Cocoon had dropped the damned bomb on Oerba it had landed in the warehouses by the lake. Even so, almost all the buildings were damaged, except for the ones on the very edge of the town. The warehouses and port were almost completely razed to rubble, with only bits of the pier and parts of the warehouses still standing. About two thirds of the rest of the town was severely damaged with the remaining needing minor repairs.

Her scowl deepened as she remembered the confusion and panic as people rushed to put out the fires and rescue their friends and family. Her hands curled into fists.

"Want a drink, Fang?" Wakka offered a bottle, she took it, dropping to sit down on the roof. The other two took up a light conversation while Fang toyed with her necklace, musing.

"-I heard Cloud joined the l'cie thing." Wakka said. Fang's head shot up.

"He did?" Ray 'mmmhmmed'.

"Aerith told me this morning. You gonna join, Wakka?"

"Maybe, ya? See how it all works out. You, Fang?"

"No." she scowled. "Those vipers should stay out of Gran Pulse."

"But they're here to help, ya mon?"

"They're the ones who did this in the first place."

"That was the other organisation...PSICOM, I think. They got disbanded. This is Guardian Core."

"They're all the same." Fang said stubbornly. Ray shrugged.

"You're the one who attacked Cocoon too, Ragnarok." Saying the nickname just to irk Fang. "What d'ya think, Wakka?" The young man scratched his head.

"Well, I don't know if it's wrong or right, but we could us some extra hands, ya?" Fang didn't reply. She got up and headed to the supports.

"Come on." She called over her shoulder. "We've got work to do." The other two exchanged glances before shrugging in unison. They followed to huntress down the supports and to the second floor of the building.

* * *

Lightning folded the last of her shirts and paused. Her packing was finished, though her bag was hardly full. She only needed clothes, after all. She carried her usual equipment with her, which wasn't much. Only her anti grav and communicator. Her gunblade was sheathed in it's usual holster and the bullets for it were in her thigh pouch. She looked around her room. Organized, with barely a touch of personality. Which _was_ her personality, she reflected.

She didn't really have any memories in this house. It was just a place she had slept and ate in, a place that was so, _so_ dull after life in Gran Pulse. Just walls and doors. Not home. She already had one.

It was also the place her mother had died. She could still remember, the too pale colour of her skin that would have blended with the sheets if not for the mottled veins, visible through the almost translucent skin. The way it clung to her bones, quite literally no muscle, no flesh. The way her eyes had dulled, a few months before her passing.

Those months had been the worst.

Claire had sat by her everyday, after school, holding her hand, gently caressing the back with her thumb, eyes fixed on her face. That face with it's eyes closed, sometimes sleeping. But sometimes not. Sometimes they were awake, those dull, blank eyes staring at her, looking but not seeing. And Claire had to repress the urge to pull away, to duck out of sight. Because those eyes were not her mother's eyes. They were the eyes of a person who was going to die.

And Claire had felt guilty. What kind of person cringed away their own mother? She had to force herself to stay when those eyes found her; when the irrational fear that those terrible eyes were going to drag her down kicking and screaming into oblivion rose up like a wave and engulfed her. And when death had finally found her mother, she could not bring herself to cry for it was for the best.

Who would want to live like that? Not being able to recognise your daughter, each day bringing in a new agony, having to fight for each whisper of a breath to keep on living, knowing that you were going to die, but having to wait for it, wait for so so long. And also...in the furthest, darkest corners of her mind, she had been relieved. Those eyes that haunted her were gone. She hated herself for thinking like that, but it was the truth. Those eyes had terrified her, more than anything else, more than the thought of her mother dying.

She shook her head, shaking away the memories. She zipped up her bag. Then, she pulled out her communicator. It had been two weeks. She had tried to call Serah, but her number had been blocked. She was leaving today, if she wanted to let her know, it was now or never. But what should she do? She had a few options.

A: try to call her again using someone else's phone

B: leave a note somewhere in case she came back

C: go look for her and tell her

D: get someone else to tell her

E: walk out the door and don't bother. She had left after all. It shouldn't matter to her what Lightning did and vice versa.

The more she thought, the better the last option sounded. She glanced at the clock. Time to make a decision.

* * *

**So yeah, cliffhanger. It's up to you if you want to influence this story (i.e. tell me which option) but not necessary. Either way, Fang and Light will meet in the next chapter. ****Ahem. I'll probably update again either this coming weekend or the weekend after. If my results are good, probably this weekend. **

**On another note, you might have realised I'm taking characters from the other ff's. This is because it takes me damn long to create OC's (especially their names) and I need to fill in some l'cie project members. So if you got any ideas, drop me a line (i.e. character, Gran Pulse or Cocoon.) Cloud and Wakka are Gran Pulse while I have Tidus set up for Cocoon.**

**So yeah, review please? **

**(\/)**

**(-.-) Unamused bunny demands you!**

**(" ")***


	5. Chapter 3

**Once again, thanks for all the reviews and stuff. Also, longest chapter I have ever written. Like, a full two hundred more than my previous best. Yay!**

**And yes! No more piano! Only my finals and I'll be free! So closeeeee... Yeah, nothing to do with you, I know. Well, read on...**

**Chapter 3**

I watch this city burn  
These passions slowly smoldering  
A lesson never learned  
Only violence

Is your world just a broken promise?  
Is your love just a drop of rain?  
Will we all just burn like fire  
Are you still there? Tell me now

~ _Let it Burn_

_There was a ceremony today. A festival. Vanille insisted that she wear her beads today, and of course she only told her five minutes before the actual thing itself. Wearing her beads meant taking them out of her special box full of all things precious to her. Which meant having to search under her dusty bed for the box... Fang glanced around, checking that the dormitory was empty before hurrying over to her bed. She lay on the floor and reached a long arm under her bed. She groped around blindly for a moment before pulling out a small wooden box. Rolling over and sitting up, she opened the box. _

_As she searched for the beads, she mentally checked that all her stuff was there. She wouldn't put it past one of the others to sneak a peek into her stuff. It seemed to be all there...the tooth of her first kill, a shard of blade from her first spear, a few other keepsakes- the beads, obviously right at the bottom. She frowned as her fingers brushed against smooth paper. Like a photo. That wasn't right. She didn't have any photos here... She picked it up, her fingers scrabbling a little on the thin edge. She drew it out. And frowned. _

_It was a picture of her with... She squinted, unable to see too clearly in the dark. She frowned. It was her with a girl who- She saw something falling from the sky through the window above her. There was a screeching sound, followed by a loud boom-_

_Her vision spun as she was hurtled back by the force of the explosion. _

_She could feel heat- there was a fire- her ears were ringing, she blinked, trying to focus. Staggering to her feet, leaning on the wall she had been flung against, she could see the flicker of flames. The acrid tang of smoke filled her lungs. She coughed, stumbling in the direction of the door. Another explosion, faint to her deafened ears, threw her down the stairs. She must have lost consciousness for because suddenly Vanille was beside her, tears running down her face. She was saying something, but Fang could barely hear her over the noise. She struggled to her feet and Vanille slung her arm over her shoulder to help her stagger out. Out on the street, Fang caught a breath of fresh air, but smoke was steadily filling the air. _

_People ran by shouting things. Disorientated she only caught snatches of conversation._

_"..bomb!"_

_"Warehouse...fuel...!"_

_"Water...help... fire!"_

_She was aware of Vanille trying to lead her away. Walls of fire blocked their way. She remembered her head clearing and the ringing ceasing to give way to the crackle of fire and screams and shouts for help. She remembered helping Vanille climb up onto a roof to escape the blaze. And she remembered when she froze at the top of the building, gazing down at her home. A snapshot of the fire raging, setting her home ablaze, lighting up the dark night accompanied by the yells of confusion and panic forever burned into her mind. Freezing the moment just before Vanille pulled her away to run to safety._

_And when she lay awake that night with Vanille curled into her and the thundering storm outside battled the raging fire, it was that scene that she remembered of the night. Not the picture of a forgotten girl she remembered for a brief moment in her box of memories. _

* * *

"You'll be divided into three groups of seven," Cid Raines began. "One will go to Paddra, the others to Oerba and Esthar." His eyes hardened.''I don't want to hear any reports of anyone fighting or arguing with the Pulsians. Anyone who does will be immediately taken off the program. You're here to help, not make things worse." He paused for a moment, his eyes scanning the small group.

"This project is the pioneer for bettering the post-war relationship between Pulse and Cocoon. The higher ups will be watching your progress closely. If all goes well, perhaps we will start up trade with them again." Once again, he paused. his eyes met Lightning's for a moment before moving on. "I think I hardly need to stress how important this project is. You may find it hard to bridge the gap at first, but keep trying. We are more alike than you can imagine. That is all. Good luck." He turned away as they saluted.

"Yes sir!" They dispersed, Lightning heading over to her group with assembled at the right of the giant hanger. Two of them were already there, the group leader, Captain Rygdea, and Tidus, a young man she'd worked with on a few occasions. Rygdea nodded at her while Tidus greeted her with a cheerful, 'Hey Lightning!' She nodded to both of them. It wasn't long before the rest of their group arrived and they boarded their ship. They were silent as the ship took off, but gradually, conversations started up.

Rygdea caught her eye and nodded at her to join him in the cockpit. She did, getting up and leaving Tidus with another young man with dark hair and blue eyes. The cockpit was quite spacious as cockpits go. "Lightning, this is Cid Highwind," he introduced her to the pilot. "Cid, Lightning Farron."

"Lightning, eh?" Cid said, eyes still on the sky. "Sounds like a Pulse name." He flicked on the auto pilot and swiveled around in his chair to observe her. "Don't look like one, though." He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and stubbed it on a nearby ashtray.

"I'm not. You've been to Gran Pulse?" Cid nodded, lighting another cigarette.

"Used to transport stuff back and forth. Stopped once the damn war started of course."

"You and Cid here are the only ones with past experiences on Pulse. I was hoping you two could tell me more of what to expect." Cid shrugged.

"Not much, to be honest." he said, gruffly. "Quite friendly in general, more open. Doubt that would apply much because of the war, though." Rygdea nodded.

"What about you, Lightning? Anything to add?"

"Not much." She said, moving to the side a bit to avoid the cigarette smoke that was wafting up to her and tying not to cough. "Well,..."

* * *

When the plane touched down in the outskirts of Oerba, the sun was setting. From the cockpit, Lightning could see a figure waiting by the stone steps. She recognised him. Tall and muscular, along with deep scars etched into his skin, Jecht cut an intimidating figure. Just as she remembered. They disembarked and while the others stretched and took in their new surroundings, Rygdea and Lightning went up to him.

The setting sun highlighted the red of his eyes, along with his head band. His arms were crossed, partially hiding the bold tattoo that covered his chest and abdomen. As they drew closer, she realised that he still towered over her. A mountain of a man, he was taller than even Snow. He still wore the same style of clothes, that is to say, black shorts and the same sash as before: orange and red.

"Oerba Sin Jecht." His deep voice rumbled. He extended a hand. Rygdea took it, wincing slightly at the crushing grip.

"Captain Rygdea. Cavalry. This is-"

"I know who she is." His powerful gaze focused on her. "Claire Farron."

And suddenly, she was taken back to that day, all those years ago.

* * *

_They had taken a boat across the huge lake. Faster than going around the vast expanse of water. They had arrived at the station at just past noon. It was late evening now, almost night. She saw lights in the distance._

_"The dock." Her father told her, noticing her gaze. Indeed it was. There were torches fixed to the edges of the dock and floating paper lanterns three metres off the ground, anchored with ropes to the supports and rails. The boat reached the dock with a gentle bump, Claire bounded out, curious at the floating lights, while her father followed more sedately, helping her mother of_f _and lifting the sleeping Serah into his arms. As her father paid the boatsman Claire stopped, aware of someone watching her._

_She turned and saw a man standing on the wooden steps leading up to solid ground- well, stone actually. There was a soft swish of water as the boat pushed of the wooden planks and cut through the smooth surface back to the opposite bank._

_"Jecht. Sorry to keep you waiting." The only male Farron greeted him, striding forward. The mother followed closely, holding Serah._

_"It was no problem." The man rumbled and for a moment, Claire thought there was a beast in the vicinity. It was only the stranger, of course, but his voice veberated so deep, as if it were a monster rather than a man._

_"This is my family," the father murmured, spreading hs arm to gesture to the three pinkettes behind him._

_"Bethana," the eldest female introduced herself. "And this is Serah." She looked down at her youngest tenderly. The mountain bowed slightly, tight corded muscles rippling with the movement. Claire stared, even more convinced that this man was more beast than human._

_"Oerba Sin Jecht." When he straightened, his gaze fixed on her, the oldest sibling. "And you?" Claire froze, feeling trapped under his powerful gaze. She searched for words the the stare froze her, his red eyes, glinting in the lantern light, pinned her down. There was a long moment that felt like an eternity whilst she desperately tried to utter her name. Her father seeing, her trouble, started to introduce her._

_"This is-" he stopped seeing her suddenly stick her hand forward, towards the man-mountain._

_"Claire Farron." She said, with a slight waver. But their gazes didn't break and Claire forced herself to stare back into those crimson eyes and look at him as an equal. They maintained this a moment more before the man- Jecht, began to laugh, a deep hearty rumble. When the rumble subsided, he reached out a hand and gripped hers. She felt the rough callouses of his palm._

_"Then welcome to your new home, Claire Farron." They let go and he spread his arm wide to gesture to all of them, an equally wide grin on his face. "All of you. Welcome to Oerba."_

* * *

_"_Lightning." She gripped his hand and met his gaze steadily. He tilted his head a little, before bowing his head ever so slightly. His grin was much the same as before.

"Welcome home, Lightning."

* * *

Dinner was a small affair. The Cocoon l'cie ate with Jecht and some other Pulsians who had joined the project. The atmosphere was tentative at first, but gradually, the two groups started mixing. Lightning herself did not, choosing to stay by Jecht and Rygdea and discuss about the mission.

Lightning broke away from the rest of her group after the meal. While the others turned in for a good night's sleep, she went on a different path. The stone roads were cracked, an after effect of the bomb that had been dropped. She continued, regardless, moving through the path grew steadier worse for wear as she approached her destination until at last, she stood in front of her old home.

The right side of the house had caved in, but the left was still relatively stable. With a quick glance around, she checked that there was no one else around. Then, with a cautious push, she opened the crooked and cracked door. The carpet, once a creamy yellow, was now white with dust and grey with ash. Moonlight shone above her, seeping through the broken roof. She padded towards the stairs, which had somehow survived the explosion.

Along the way, she treaded on bits of her old life. A tear of fabric, broken glass of picture frames left behind in their rush to leave, shatters of ceremics left behind because of their bulk. Making her way up the stairs which swayed unsteadily, she remembered trudging up them after a long day out to take a shower before dinner. Usually after hunting with- Fang.

She hadn't seen the huntress at dinner and she hadn't asked Jecht about her either. She couldn't. So she had sat there, talking to Rygdea and Jecht. Of the Gran Pulsians, she recognised only Cloud. There were very few of them, only about four. Jecht said he expected more to join after the two weeks...

She pushed open the half burnt door to her room and stopped in the doorway. Much like the lower part of the house, it was, yet was not her room. She felt a soft breeze rustle her hair. Looking across the room, she saw the window with three of it's four panes broken. Crossing her bedroom slowly, she reached the opening, her feet crunching on broken glass. Looking down into what remained of the garden, she found herself trying to open the window. It was jammed, but she finally managed to jerk it open. Loose shards of glass rained down.

She bigger than last time, but she managed to slip out the window and land in the harred remains of the garden. Just like she used to. And just like she used to, she vaulted over the crumbling wall at the end of the garden and disappeared amongst the towering warehouses, following a path lit by moonlight.

The destruction was worse here, with giant slabs of concrete and steel frames from the collapsed warehouses that had split the stone foundation and formed craters. She walked on autopilot, traversing the broken road and it's obstacles. She unconsciously compared it with her past memories, taking in the destruction, the changes.

She was almost there, she could see the lake at the end of the path, when there was a cracking sound accompanied by the groaning of concrete. She looked up and froze. Part of the roof of a warehouse was slowly toppling over the edge of the wall- towards her. She couldn't move her feet, still stuck part ways in her reminiscence to move properly, out of the way of the concrete slab.

"Watch out!" A voice called. She turned her head as someone collided with her, pushing her out of the way of the falling slab. She coughed as dust rose up and invaded her lungs. There was a groaning of the more human kind as her saviour slowly pushed herself up. At least, she thought it was a she. The dust had yet to settle. Her saviour walked towards her.

"Geez, I thought the Cocoonians coming were soldiers. " She grumbled. Lightning's eyes widened in shock. That voice...Fang? The Gran Pulsian extended a hand to her. "Up and at 'em, Pinky." Still in shock, Lightning took it, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. By now the dust had settled, giving the two a clear view of each other.

Lightning stepped back, taking in the familiar blue sari- she couldn't believe it was still the same- and lingered on the tattoo on her upper arm. It had to be Fang. Her mind was racing, filling up with all the things she had wanted say, wanted to do for the past five years. But all that faltered when her gaze moved up to her eyes, cold and hard. She flinched at the lack of recognition and warmth that she remembered.

"Like what you see?" The huntress asked with a smirk. But her tone was dark, more like a taunt than playful teasing. Lightning couldn't answer, still trying to understand what was happening. The Pulsian shrugged at the lack of answer. "What are you doing here, eh, Pinky? It's dangerous in case you hadn't noticed." Her emerald eyes narrowed at the foreigner and she took a step forward.

"I can take care of myself." Lightning said while her mind screamed at her. _Of all the things you could have said-! _The huntress scoffed.

"So nearly getting squished is taking care of yourself?" Her eyes flashed with hostility. "Guess I got in your way, then." Lightning opened her mouth to speak when another voice interrupted her.

"Fang!" Yelled an overly cheerful voice, "What are you doing?" Fang merely turned her head as a red head scrambled over a large slab of concrete and bounced towards them.

"Oh, hey Vanille." The teenager frowned, taking in the scene.

"Jecht specifically told you not to get into any fights, Fang!"

"I'm not." Fang replied carelessly, walking to her side.

"You definitely were!" the girl turned to Lightning. "Sorry about her. My name's Oerba Dia Vanille. And this is my adopted sister." She elbowed Fang. Her elder scowled before sighing.

"Oerba Yun Fang." She said arrogantly.

"And what's yours?" Vanille asked.

"Lightning Farron." She replied automatically. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Fang. The huntress met her gaze with narrowed eyes and walked away.

"Fang? Fang, wait up." Vanille ran after her.

And Lightning was left alone, leaving her to wonder how it could have gone so wrong.

* * *

_"Okay, how long are you going to stalk her?" Fang spun around to the source of the voice. The girl with long black hair with white streaks was leaned on a walking cane._

_"Ray?" The brunette exclaimed. "Don't sneak up on me like that! Have you been stalking me?" The other girl raised a slender eyebrow._

_"I was sitting there for a rest," she jerked her head over her shoulder. "When I saw you sneaking along, stalking a fairly innocent looking girl with pink hair." She smirked, making her amusement known. "Scared, Fang?" Fang narrowed her eyes._

_"Oerba Yun Fang is scared of nothing!" _

_"Except for Cocoonian girls with pink hair." _

_"Her pink hair is nice." Fang said defensively. Ray's smirk grew._

_"So you are scared." She teased._

_"Am not!" The older growled._

_"Fang's scared of a little girl." The younger sang._

_"She's older than you!" _

_"Even worse!" She continued in the same tune._

_"Shut up!"_

_"Fang's scared of a-"_

_"I hate you." Fang said grumpily, sitting down on one of the crates stacked against the wall of the alley and covering her ears. Ray persisted, though, knowing that she could not block out her voice. She was right and before long, for Fang was very impatient, the Yun stormed to her and yelled:_

_"I'm not scared of her!" Her teasing ceased almost immediately._

_"Prove it." They stared at each other. They would have been almost equal in height if Ray did not have to stoop over her cane._

_"Why don't you?" Fang challenged. Ray shrugged in a careless way, knowing it would annoy her._

_"I've to get home soon. Mum and Dad don't like me getting out of the house at all."_

_"Then I'll accompany you." Ray stared at her._

_"Just how scared are you of this girl?" She asked, incredulous. _

_"I'm not!" Fang shifted uneasily at Ray's sceptically raised eyebrow. "I just...don't know what to say." Ray burst out laughing. Fang glared at her. "Shut up." Ray didn't. "Ray, I swear-"_

_"Okay, okay." The younger girl held her free hand up in surrender. "It's just that you hardly ever stop talking so you being lost for words..." Fang scowled._

_"Whatever." Ray simply smirked. _

_"So, you walking me home or what?" Shaking her head, Fang led the way out of the alley. On the journey back she was careful to slow her speed to match Ray's limping pace. She didn't offer to help. Radiance was too proud for that. They chatted, talking about the hunting expedition that had just returned with a behemoth when suddenly Fang tripped and slipped down a small set of steps. _

_"Oww." She rubbed her head, wishing that Oerba didn't have a stone foundation. Then she realised she had tripped over Ray's foot. That sneaky little- she looked back up the steps as Ray saluted her jauntily, mouthing something. Fang frowned. Good luck? A hand appeared at the side of her vision._

_"Need a hand?" A voice asked._

_"Yeah." She took it, standing up and turning to face her helper. "I'm gonna ki-" she froze, seeing blue eyes framed by pink hair. The head tilted to the side._

_"You're going to ki?" Fang stared, still fumbling for words. The girl furrowed her brow into a frown. "Are you okay?" _

_"Y-yeah" she finally got her mouth to move. "I'm fine." _

_"That's good. Well..." She moved to leave, but Fang stopped her._

_"I-I'm Oerba Yun Fang. You?" _

_"Claire Farron." Claire..._

_"Um..are you new?" Fang scratched her head awkwardly._

_"Just moved here four days ago." Fang knew that. She'd been watching her for three days. Not that she was stalking her or anything..."Well, I'll see you around..Fang." Claire turned around to leave._

_"Wait!" The pinkette turned around to look at her quizzically. "Um, do you want to- I mean, if you want, I could..show you around?" _

_"I've already been around." She gestured to her surroundings._

_"Not everywhere, ya?" Fang asked, growing a little more confident. "I could show you somewhere special. And you haven't been outside, Oerba, ya?" Claire narrowed her eyes._

_"How did you know that?" _

_"Um, I was just assuming?" Claire sighed, a little wistfully._

_"Dad doesn't want me to go out." _

_"Well, I could still show you around," Fang said hurriedly. Claire held up a hand to stop her._

_"My dad doesn't want me to go out." Her eyes glinted mischievously. "But I do." Oh, she was going to like this girl. Fang grinned._

_"Then let's go, Sunshine." The corners of Claire's mouth moved up into the most beautiful smile Fang had ever seen._

_"Right back at you, Snaggletooth."_

* * *

Serah wasn't sure about this. She never thought she'd come back. Not so soon. But here she was, in front of her house. Well, Lightning's house now. She sighed.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." She said to her boyfriend. "In fact, I can't believe you would want me to do this at all." Snow grinned sheepishly.

"Well, she is your sister." He replied. "I know it was bothering you."

"It wasn't." She said, stoic. He scratched his head.

"Well," he said carefully, "She is your only family. I think you should at least talk it over."

"Everytime we do, we end up arguing. It's probably going to be the same this time too."

"Hey, think positive. Maybe she realises how much she misses you."

"Probably not at all." Snow turned and took her shoulders gently.

"You don't know that." Serah didn't reply, her eyes on the ground. "Hey, look at me." Her gently tilted her chin up for their gazes could meet. "Your sister loves you. The only time I've ever seen her smile was because of you."

"This isn't my sister anymore." she murmured.

"It is." he insisted. "She might have changed, but she's still the same person deep down. So come on." She smiled a little, standing on tip toe to hug him tightly.

"Thanks, Snow." She pulled away and faced the house once more. "It's probably best if you stay out here though." He grinned.

"You don't have to tell me that. I be outside if you need me." She smiled once more.

"Thanks." She made her way up to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. No answer. That wasn't right. It was a Sunday morning. Lightning never had duty on Sunday morning. Never, because Amodar always made her get one day of a week. She tried again, and when that didn't work, she unlocked it and pushed open the door slowly. She stepped inside.

"Claire?" She went upstairs.

The house was empty. Unwilling tears welled up in her eyes as she rushed out, completely missing the yellow post-it that had fallen to the floor, slipping underneath a table, out of sight.

* * *

**Post-it note, you had one job! Fun fact: apparently there is another Claire Lightning Farron. Yup, you heard me right. Roses and prayers: Claire Lightning Farron. Or did everyone already know and I'm just really clueless? **

**Anyways: Was it me, or was it a little rushed? Sorry, about that. Maybe I'll fix it up. Probably not, though. I'll update in maybe two to four weeks. Anyway, I pretty much have nothing else to say. Well, other than: Review, please?**

**(\/)**  
**(-.-) Unamused bunny demands it!**  
**(" ")***


	6. Chapter 4

**ClaireIsInLightning: Soon, I guess. I don't really plan my chapters, but I think about less than four, roughly. Maybe three? (This statement is inaccurate)**

**Thanks for the reviews. Now, onward.**

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

I chase your love around a figure 8,

I need you more than I can take,

You promise forever and a day,

And then you take it all away,

And then you take it all away.

_~ Figure 8_

Waka may not have been the brightest pulsian in the village, but even he felt the tension in the air. The metaphorical adamantoise in the room.

Lightning Farron and Fang, he concluded, did not get along. That much was obvious by the oppressive silence between the two and the way they stayed on opposite ends of the roof. The 'why', however, was not as apparent. And if Waka knew what was good for him, he wouldn't ask.

While Fang was a laid-back, easy-going person usually, when she got moody - as she was now- it was decidedly better not to bother her unless you had a death wish. Or you were Vanille. Of both, neither applied to him. And judging by the way her comrades treated her -with absolute respect and a healthy dose of fear- it would be best to leave the Cocoon soldier out of it too. A wise choice.

Instead, he turned his attention to the last and fourth member of their party. Tidus. He was a friendly enough guy, slighter younger than Waka. He reminded him of his brother. As it happened, Tidus liked blitzball too. Although he remembered Ray telling him blitzball in Cocoon was more than a little different. Then he wondered if that was the reason why Fang was in a bad mood.

Ray had left a few days ago -just before the Cocoonians' arrival- for Gods know where. It was understandable as Ska's -Ray's tribe- were wanderers notorious for becoming extremely restless -and consequently causing untold amounts of mischief and havoc- when staying in a certain place for too long, amongst other things.

Before Waka could reach a conclusion, Tidus stood up, probably to get an out of reach tool or something. Waka wasn't paying much attention so he wasn't sure how exactly he did it, but somehow Tidus had managed to knock both Fang and Lightning -they were at least five meters apart- off the roof. He stood there now, a look of absolutely horror on his face.

To their credit, the two reacted quicky. The soldier twisted in the air to land lightly on her feet and with a few acrobatic flips, was back on the roof. Fang had managed to snag onto the edge of the roof. Waka winced in sympathy at the 'oof' as the huntress slammed none too gently into the side of the building. With a grunt, she started to haul herself back up. It was at this time that Lightning made it back and Tidus regained his senses and started apologising profusly. Lightning sighed, waving it off while Waka grinned.

"Fang doesn't need any help falling off roofs, mon. She does it well enough on her own."

At this Fang grumbled something, glaring at him. Then he suddenly remembered her bad mood and decided to shut up. Meanwhile, Lightning had walked over to Fang and extended a hand. The pulsian looked at it for a moment, but ignored the gesture and pulled herself up by herself and walked back to her side. The pink haired woman stared after her for a moment, expressionless, before returning to her own. Tidus watched the exchange nervously.

* * *

Fang didn't like her. She didn't like the way she looked at her. It was strange in itself. Those blue eyes unnerved her. They seem to be searching her for something. Looking, even though she knew there to be nothing. Fang shivered. But more than that, what bothered her more was her own reaction to the soldier. As a Yun, she had heightened senses, but even this was strange. She always knew when Lightning was around her. Without even focusing or looking out for her, if she was there, that was where her focus was. Almost by instinct... There was this feeling she brought about in Fang, just lingering at the edge of her consciousness. Everytime, she reached for it, it slipped away.

It irritated her to no end. But there was nothing she could do. So everyday, whilst they worked on repairs, her attention was always split between her work and Lightning. Silently irritating her out of her mind every single day as there was nothing Fang hated more than not knowing the reason for something. She tried to stop it, staying as far away as possible, but no difference.

* * *

Finally, their work was done for the day. Waka sighed, stretching his back.

"You know what would be good now, mons? A hunt."

"I'm in." Fang said. "Just let me get my spear."

"Aye. How 'bout you, Tidus? And Lightning?" Tidus nodded, but Lightning shook her head and departed, as she had for the last four days after work. Fang was glad to see her go. The feeling that had been hovering around her disappeared with the sergeant and Fang instantly felt lighter.

"Ya got a weapon, Tidus?"

"Well, only this." he showed him his gun. Waka shook his head.

"Ya can't go hunting with a gun, mon. It's not right." He shook his head. Then he brightened. "I now! I'll lend you Chappu's long sword! Come on! Fang, we'll meet you at the West Side Gate!" He left, dragging Tidus along. She shook her head and set off for her own home.

* * *

_"This way." Claire followed the girl she had just met through the stone paved streets of her new home. Already they had been to a few places which -Claire had to admit- she didn't think she'd have found by herself. At least, not so soon. Right now they were passing through the crowded docks. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of pinkish-brown hair. She stopped dead in her tracks. The pulsian, Fang, stopped as well, glancing back at her._

_"What's up, Sunshine?" Her heart thumped wildly as the figure turned her way. Wasting no time with words, she quickly grabbed her companion's hand and pulled them both into an alley. "Whoa, Sunshine?" Fang exclaimed, but was ignored. Claire opted instead to peek around the corner. Her father was frowning a little, looking at the spot she had been moments before. Then he shrugged, turning away. Claire breathed a sigh of relief at the close call. "Your dad?" Fang asked. Claire started, realising the pulsian was standing on tiptoe to peek over her head. she nodded._

_"I'm not supposed to be here. At least, not without him or mom." Fang whistled low._

_"Quite the rule breaker aren't ya, Farron." She said airily, putting her hands behind her head. Claire scowled, but Fang only laughed. "Calm down, Sunshine. Can't imagine what he's so worried about, though. Oerba's pretty safe." She shrugged, "Ah, well. Shall we get goin'?" Claire nodded, but instead of walking out of the alley, Fang headed to the wall. She frowned, glancing out the alley again. "You coming, Sunshine?" Fang's voice came from above her. She looked up in wonder. Sitting in the edge of the warehouse roof, Fang was looking down at her, a cocky smirk on her face. Claire couldn't help the smile that played on her face._

_"Shut up, Fang." With helpful advice from the pulsian on the best footholds, she progressed up the brick wall. But on the last one,her foot slipped and the twelve year old was left hanging on the edge of the roof. Panic welled up in her. It was a long way down._

_"Gotcha, Claire."A tan arm reached down and grasped her hand and with surprising strength for a twelve year old, pulled her up._

_"Thanks."Claire murmured once there was stable ground underneath her feet._

_"No problem." Fang peered over the side. "Not bad, Farron. You ever scale a building before?"_

_"No. But I've jumped off a few," Claire admitted. Fang's jaw dropped._

_"Without breaking a leg or two?" Claire chuckled._

_"I have an anti-grav."Fang cocked her head in confusion. "It's a sort of device." Claire explained. "It lessens the impact." The taller girl's eyes gleemed._

_"Sounds... fun."_

_"It is,"Claire agreed. "But Dad took it away." Fang pouted. "Anyway, why are we up, here?" she asked, curious. Fang scratched her head._

_"Well, we don't want your dad to see you, right? Besides, it's faster to get around by rooftop. Also, well..." her voice trailed off and she gestured around. Claire's eyes widened as she took in the view afforded by the warehouse roof. Most of Oerba's buildings were low and the warehouse was amongst the tallest. Such, it allowed an almost bird's eye view of the town and the mountains beyond. "... thought you'd like an aerial view." Fang finished. "What do you think?"_

_"It's amazing." Claire said, still taken by the sight. The afternoon was giving way to evening, illuminating the stone of Oerba with a soft orange. Fang's chest swelled with pride._

Oerba was a square town. It was built half in the lake, and the other half on land. The east side and most of the north was over the waters of Lake Oerba whilst the west and almost all of the south were entrenched in solid ground. The town was divided on that basis, with the east and north diagonal dedicated to warehouses and inns for the travellers that traded in the port which was in the north-east corner. The south and west diagonal was where the residents resided along with all the public buildings and shops and such. The marketplace was in the centre of the whole town, overlapping the two halves.

Claire wasn't exactly sure of what happened next, her memory blurred a little. But she remembered chasing each other across the rooftops. She remembered Fang leading her home to the south side, after realising that night had fallen. She remembered saying 'goodnight' to her new-found friend and the promise the Oerban made to meet her the next day. Seven at the South Entrance. Lightning remembered all of this. And that revelation inevitably led to her wondering why Fang didn't as well.

It made her confused and unhappy. The better part of four years spent together. How could she have forgotten? And she had to have forgotten, for what other explanation was there? As impossible as it was, it was the only reason she could find. That she had been forgotten. Slipped out of the memory of the person she had thought about everyday for five years. She wanted to laughed at the bitter irony.

But at the same time she knew there was nothing she could do. It wasn't like she could go up to her and say 'Oh hey, you don't remember, but I was your girlfriend five years ago. Wanna get back together?' That would be stupid.

So, left to her bitter thoughts, Lightning set out to the South Shore entrance for some peace away from Fang. It wasn't like the huntress would miss her. Lightning wasn't blind. She had seen the way the pulsian had relaxed ever so slightly when she had declined the invitation.

"Where you off to now, soldier?" She heard a gruff voice call out to her. She didn't turn.

"Hunting, Jecht."

"Alone?" His voice was slurred a little. She stopped, frowning.

"Are you drunk?"

"A littleeee." She sighed.

"Yes, I'm going solo."

"No Fang?" She turned to look at him. He was leaning against a wall, bottle in hand.

"No." Jecht chuckled. At what, she didn't know. She started walking again.

"Be carefulllll." he yelled after her. She waved it off.

Hunting relaxed her, she supposed. She felt better than she had in five years, which, she supposed, wasn't that hard to top. With a single swipe, she slayed the gorgonopsid that leapt at her. Then she heard a sound in the distance. She cocked her head to discern it. Her eyes narrowed, realising what it was. Quickly, she took of towards the source.

* * *

_Okay, maybe wasn't such a good idea,_ Vanille thought to herself as the behemoth reared it's head and roared. She wasn't completely useless at fighting, but she was definitely out of her league here. Her eyes widened as it lashed out at her and she dodged back. It's sharp claws caught her shoulder, sending her spinning to the ground. She winced, feeling the sharp the sting of pain. The behemoth bellowed once more, moving in to finish her off. Suddenly, a shadow crossed over her and there was a blur of pink.

* * *

"Vanille!" Fang rushed into the room, pulling her adoptive sister into a tight hug.

"Fang!" She wiggled, trying to get out of her iron grip. "Can't breathe."

"Sorry." the huntress pulled away, holding her at an arms length while she ran a critical eye over her. "Are you okay?" she demanded.

"I'm fine, just a small scratch on my shoulder." she gestured to the bandaged limb. "But I'm fine."

"Thank Etro." Fang murmured. Then she frowned. "You shouldn't have gone out by yourself, Vanille."

"I wasn't going out very far." Her little sister countered.

"It was far enough." Fang scowled. "You should have told me."

"I didn't want to stop you from going out to hunt."

"I could have gone some other time."

"You've been dying to for the whole week!"

"You could have. Besides," she looked away. "You're more important than that." She said stubbornly.

"But I'm fine, Fang." Vanille reassured her. "Lightning was there to help me."

"Lightning?" She turned back, surprised.

"You didn't know?" Fang shook her head. "Well, she was amazing. She was so fast, like lightning, I guess. On par with Ray!" Vanille gushed. Her eyes turned serious. "You're wrong about her, Fang. About them."

* * *

_ "You're wrong about her, Fang. About them." _

Maybe_. _Fang mused to herself. Either way, Farron had saved Vanille. She owed her thanks for that at least. So here she was, looking for the pink haired woman. She hadn't been with the others, but she never was, usually. Now that Fang thought about it, the sergeant was a solitary person, hardly ever conversing with the others. When they finished for the day, she usually disappeared, to where, Fang didn't know. On a whim, she decided to visit the harbour where she first met her. Idly, she took in the half destroyed warehouses. They needed to build more supports here. Wouldn't want someone to get squished like Farron nearly had.

And there she was, looking out over the vast lake, the breeze playing with her hair. For a moment, Fang stopped. Something about the scene just made her... catch her breath? She frowned, feeling a sense of deja vu. She shook it away in favour to cross the remaining distance to lean on the wall next to the Cocoonian. To her credit, Lightning didn't flinch, only cast a questioning glance her way. Fang searched for words. She was a stubborn person by nature, according to Vanille and the rest of her friends. But even she knew when to swallow her pride. Didn't make it any easier, though.

She observed Farron. Her usually hard eyes were soft as she gazed out over the water. Fang felt a swell of pride at her homeland.

"Beautiful, innit?"

"Yeah." She chuckled at the short answer. They stood in silence for a few more minutes before Fang sighed.

"Listen, Farron." the sergeant turned to her. "About you helping Vanille today..."

"It's what anyone would have done."

"Face down a behemoth for someone they hardly know?" Farron didn't answer. "Well, anyway, I guess I owe you a thanks. And, well, I suppose we got of on the wrong foot last time so...um..." she scratched her head awkwardly.

"Sorry for acting like a complete bitch?" Fang blinked, caught off guard both by the statement, which was not something she'd pegged Lightning to say, as well as the hand stretched out to her. Then she laughed.

"Yeah." she took the hand and with a slight smirk. She still wasn't comfortable with Farron, she didn't think she'd ever be completely. Not while she still had that look in her eyes that . But anyone who could take down a behemoth single handedly deserved the effort. She winked. "See ya later, Lightning." And with that she left Lightning, disappearing around the corner. Lightning stared after her. Already, she missed the warmth of her hand.

* * *

**Well, how was it? A little rushed, I'm afraid. I was pressed for time. **

**Anyway, this will be my last update for a while. My exams start this Wednesday *gulps* and end on the next. Unfortunately, I have my entrance exams to Form 4 the week after, so yeah. After that I'll be updating my other stories (2 of them) before this one. Expect an update...sometime November? So review please? I can't help thinking I forgot to put something...**

**(\/)  
(-.-) Unamused bunny demands you!  
(" ")***


	7. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**(This is my longest chapter ever, 5000-ish words! yay me! Though it's kinda slow starting, bear with me)**

**Onward...**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

Walk the dark path  
Sleep with angels  
Call the past for help  
Touch me with your love  
And reveal to me my true name

_~ Nemo_

Lightning stared out at the downpour outside her window. Today, she had been woken up by the grumble of thunder as it echoed her namesake.

"Gloomy day." she heard her room mate comment from behind her. She turned to see the dark-haired woman crossing the room.

"Yeah," she murmured softly. "Thanks." she added, taking the mug of coffee offered to her. Tifa merely offered a smile, pulling up a chair to sit next to her. They sat in silence for a while, each to their own thoughts. Unsurprisingly, Tifa was the first to make conversation.

"So. You used to live here?"

"Hmm." Lightning said in affirmation. Her gaze was still fixed outside the window, or rather, the droplets of water sliding down the smooth glass.

"What was it like?" The pinkette seem to fade away, lost in her memories and Tifa wasn't sure she'd get an answer. But after a long while, the sergeant looked at her.

"Different." She responded quietly. Her eyes held a softness Tifa could never recall seeing before that moment, except, maybe, when speaking of her younger sister. She was not so close to the sergeant, but she knew that she rarely smiled. Her reputation preceded her. Before she could elaborate -if she was going to-, however, Tidus interrupted with a knock on the slightly ajar door.

The blonde haired young man strode in.

"No repairs today." he announced, with Zack following close behind.

"I'm not surprised." Tifa commented, looking out the window. "It's raining by the bucket load."

"Jecht said it was the rainy season now." Zack added. "It'll be like this on and off for the rest of the month, apparently." Meanwhile Tidus had flopped on the floor and started to stretched. Sitting up, he rubbed the back of his head.

"Any ideas what to do now?"

"I've got cards." Zack offered, pulling out a pack. "You girls in?" He asked, as he settled on the floor.

"You bring those around with you every where?" Tifa teased, moving over to them.

"Only when I need them. Lightning?"

"I'll pass." the sergeant murmured. The dark haired soldiers exchanged a look while Tidus remained confused.

"What?" he asked. "What?" Tifa rolled her eyes.

"What are we playing Zack?"

Their voices faded into background whilst Lightning focused on her own thoughts. She steered them back to Tifa's earlier question. 'What was it like?' Her first thought had been that there was no way to describe it. Followed by amazing, incredible etc. Then she remembered. Serah hadn't liked it all that much. She could see how much Serah preferred it on Cocoon. And herself? If Fang was not in the equation? It would still be amazing, of course. But not so...much. It would be missing something, definitely.

She shook her head. She'd been thinking about this too much lately. Perhaps, she should stop and take a break for a while. Therefore, much to her comrades' surprise, she joined them in their fourth round. And much to Tidus's dismay, proceeded to own them all. Her poker face was perfection.

It was amusing, to say the least. When she allowed a small quirk of her lips in a small smile and he would immediately draw out only to find she had nothing. The next time she did it, he stayed in and, well, royal flush. She did this a few times to mess with his head. Pay back, in a way, for pushing her off the roof. Then she stopped, settling on a expressionless mask. It was getting pitiful, after all. The two older ones had not paid attention to her expressions, deeming her too sneaky to be trusted.

By the end of the session, Lightning was the clear winner, followed by Tifa and Zack. Last would be the youngest of them, seeing as he had only won once since Lightning had joined the game. They got up, stretching their limbs and went downstairs in search of food.

The next few days were passed much the same, as the dismal downpour showed no signs of slowing. Then on the fourth day, Lightning was awoken by the sound of some _idiot_ shouting somewhere in the house. Grumbling, she pulled the covers from over her head. She blinked rapidly at the unexpected light.

The sun was out. But once again, the shouts drew her attention. Muttering to herself discontentedly -her sleep had been interrupted various times in the night by the thunder and lightning, yes she was aware of the irony- she threw back the covers and stumbled over to the door.

It was Waka. Standing in front of Tidus's and Zack's door, he turned to her sheepishly.

"Blitzball?" She grumbled.

"Fifteen minutes."

Slamming the door, she turned away. Tifa sat up, rubbing at her eyes. She looked at the window.

"Thank Etro... It's stopped raining." Her shoulders sagged and she flopped back down with a happy sigh. "What did Waka want?"

"Blitzball." she replied, lying back down on her bed to catch a few minutes more of sleep. Meanwhile, Tifa stood up, heading to the bathroom.

"Good. I think I'd go stir crazy if we had to spend one more day indoors."

"It's not the same as Cocoon's." Lightning warned into her pillow.

"I suppose so. They don't have anything like a blitzball arena. So, where we playing?"

"Mud." Was Lightning's only answer. Tifa raised an eyebrow at her, but left her companion to sleep.

* * *

In the end, the guys ended up going ahead. Lightning had waved them on -well, more of grunted- mumbling that she knew the way.

"It's not like you to be so lazy." Tifa commented when the sergeant finally found enough energy to start getting ready.

"You regret it if you play blitzball half asleep." was Lightning's reply.

"Again, why?"

"You'll see."

"At least tell me where we're playing." Tifa said as they started walking.

"Northside, otherwise known as the North Plains." Tifa quirked an eyebrow.

"Plains?" Not an ideal place for a water sport...

"Mmm. They can only play blitzball after a heavy rain, so during the rainy seasons, before winter and before summer, mostly."

They stayed in the South-West corner of Oerba, the most intact part of the village. Their repairs had them working west, and as they walked, Tifa could see the fruits of their labour. When the edge of the stone ground was within sight, Lightning broke the silence.

"They call it the North Mud during the monsoon season, though." Tifa frowned. Something was off. All she could see was water, though that wasn't right, because Oerba's north wall was at least 100 meters on solid ground...oh.

The ground was still there. But now, it was covered in a layer of water, about four feet deep. It grew shallower, deeper inland, about only an inch, effectively turning the plains into a gigantic puddle of mud and tufts of grass.

"Better leave your stuff here." Lightning advised, unstrapping her own thigh pouch and putting her communicator inside. She stashed it in a small alcove in the side of a building and Tifa followed suit. Now she knew why Lightning hadn't brought her gunblade.

Lightning strode over to where Waka and Fang were arguing over the boundaries.

"It's definitely the same depth over here!" Fang said.

"Wha-!?" Waka spluttered. "Stop cheating, mon. It's at least this much more!" he held up a finger and thumb as wide as possible to show how much she was cheating. A tall man with spiky blonde hair rolled his eyes next to them. He was a holding the end of a string, the opposite tied to another stick some ways off. Then Waka noticed her.

"Lightning! Come set this idiot straight, yeah?" Fang rolled her eyes.

"What, you need a girl to measure for you now?" The two continued their bickering. She looked at the other man.

"How deep is it supposed to be?" He raised his shoulders in a shrug. When the two finally stopped bickering and settled on a compromise, the group gathered in the centre of the court.

"So, how are we dividing?" Zack asked.

"Pulse and Cocoon?" a dark haired girl with a mischievous smile, Yuffie, suggested.

"Nah. 'Sides, they don't know how to play." Fang said. "We'll pick the normal way. I'll captain. Who's the other?" Silence. "What, does everyone wanna be my team or are you guys just scared I'm gonna own ya?"

"Ahh, heck. Just for that...fine." Waka said.

In the end, on Waka's team were Tidus, Cloud, Zack and a pulsian she didn't know. On Fang's were Yuffie, Tifa, two soldiers Lightning wasn't very familiar with and Lightning herself. Fang frowned.

"What's this? You getting sexist now Waka?"

"I could say the same for you." he retorted. Cloud glared at them and the game moved on.

"Wait, what are the rules?" Tifa asked.

"Um, no punching." Fang stated.

"So we can kick people?" Zack mused.

"If you can lift your foot more than two feet off the ground, you're welcome to try. Tackling is allowed and tripping. Anyway, to score, just throw the ball into the triangle," she gestured to the posts at each end with triangle hoops on the top, about 2 meters high.

The game started. Almost immediately, Fang took possession of the ball, Tidus tried to kick her, but failed, the mud unbalancing him and he fell face flat. Fang evidently found this hilarious as she ran, laughing all the while, at least, until she ran straight into Waka and was knocked off her feet. Who was then proceeded to be tripped by Yuffie who was distracted by the unknown pulsian-Clasko- tackling her to the ground. Fifteen seconds in and already four people were down. Still, the scene seemed vaguely familiar to Lightning.

_A thirteen year old Claire Farron awoke to a soft rapping on her window. Groaning softly, she raised her head to see her friend crouched on her window still, a wide grin on her face. She opened the window._

_"Nice pajama's." Fang sniggered._

_"Shut up. What have you got against chocobos?" _

_"Nothing, nothing." but there was a laughter in her eyes that made Claire want to smack her off her window sill. "Anyway, get ready."_

_"Where are we going?" she turned to pick out some clothes. _

_"Blitzball."_

_"Can't it wait? It's still dawn." She yawned. _

_"The best time to play." Claire nodded sleepily, starting to change. Then she paused, narrowing her eyes at Fang._

_"Look away, you perv." Fang rolled her eyes, but fixed her gaze outside. _

_"I don't suppose it's anything like Cocoon blitzball?" she asked, leaning on the taller girl as they walked. _

_"Not really. We created it, ya know? Then you 'coonians went overboard and made the whole thing under water. How the hell do you even breathe?" Claire mumbled something. Fang looked at her. "You'd better wake up a little. It's not the best sport to play half asleep." Claire just grumbled._

_"It's the crack of dawn." And she stayed in that sleepy state while Fang argued with the other captain about the teams. The East Coast kids, from the port, usually children of the traders, against West Side, the Oerban's, and Claire. Admittedly, when the game started, Claire did not jump into action, choosing instead to get a few more minutes of shut eye before devoting herself fully to the game. Unfortunately, Fang did not realise this, judging by the ball she sent her way. Cerulean eyes shot open. The ball was too far left. She moved, reacting quickly. Unfortunate, the mud had other plans and she landed face first in face sucking gloop. She heard voices ringing out with laughter. Sitting, up, she blushed, but it remained unseen, with all the mud. She swiped it off. Then she realised something. She glared. Fang was laughing. At her._

_"You all right sunshine?" She said, eyes full of mirth. Getting up, she stormed over, as much as she could with the mud. And decked Fang on the jaw. The taller girl fell. Still she laughed. Claire scowled and proceeded to deal out more punishment. But the pulsian laughed all the while, holding out her arms to defend herself until one of their teammates yelled at them. _

_"Oi! You two! Fang, get up and help!"_

_Apparently while Claire had been dealing out justice, the other team had scored a goal. Finally, she ceased and grudgingly helped the traitor up. She had to quirk a smile at all the muck on Fang though. Then they played. _

The game had progressed much like a regular blitzball game. With much mud flying, cursing and evil laughter. All in all Fang's team was doing pretty good. Then something...happened. At least, to her. During the end quarter of the game, something inexplicable happened and Fang was left wondering. All their teammates were blocked or otherwise occupied, and Waka was running to her, grinning. Then she felt something. A sense of deja vu. It was...weird, but she acted on it, throwing the ball straight up into the air, flecks of mud flying off. Following the instinct, she spun around, dropping to one knee, hands locked together.

She berated herself internally. What the hell was she doing? But her body wasn't responding, moving on it's own accord. Briefly, she remembered doing this before. That prickling feeling was there, something just out of her reach. She remembered someone. Her features were blurry, but for a moment blue eyes locked on hers. Her eyes widened, but the memory was gone and she was snapped back to the present. All of this had happened in the blink of an eye. And she blinked once more as she felt a boot in her hands. Reflexively, she heaved upwards and the person was launched into the air.

"Shit." Waka said as Lightning Farron arced into the air, and with a powerful flip, sent the ball rocketing towards the triangle. He shook his head as the ball passed through, touching neither side and landed with a thud in the mud. "Not a bad move, Fang." He said. "Fang?"

"Eh?" she turned to him, she seemed out of it. But he wasn't worried, she did that every so often once in a while. Lightning landed smoothly with a slight squelch of mud. He clapped a hand on Fang's shoulder. Zack had already picked up the ball and was racing towards the other goal. The game was moving on. Waka ran off. By the end of the day, no one would remember the scene particularly. Except for Fang and a certain pinkette. Their eyes met as Lightning stood and the prickling feeling came back with a vengeance. Fang tore her eyes away and ran to assist Yuffie who was trying, in vain, to get the ball from Cloud.

* * *

"..then he took one step and fell flat on his face!" Waka narrated. The party burst into laughter, with the exception of Tidus, being the butt of the joke, Lightning, being a stoic soldier, and Fang, being in a brooding mood. Waka noticed this and grinned, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "Ah, whatcha' thinking about mon?"

"Nothing."

"Well, you'd better stop, whatever it is. You look like your brain's gonna fry."

"Oh, shut up." She swatted him away.

It was mid afternoon, but the sun was nowhere to be seen.

"About time." Jecht said when they reached the meeting point, more or less in the middle of the port diagonal. "We need to get a move on." He cast a glance upward. "It's going to rain again. Get into pairs, you know what to do." He strode away, several support poles balanced on his shoulder.

Gradually, they drifted into groups and wandered off and Lightning found herself paired with Fang. Grabbing a few supplies, she followed the huntress. After a few minutes, they stopped in front of a warehouse. The roof had caved in, but the walls were still standing, several chunks leaning precariously. Fang leaned the metal poles against the wall. She turned.

"Hey." She greeted, as if noticing Lightning for the first time. Softly, Lightning echoed the greeting. Fang scratched her head, as if unsure of what to say. 'this is ridiculous' Lightning thought as the seconds ticked by. She cleared her throat.

"So, what are we doing here?" Fang started, but at the same time looked grateful at the broken awkwardness.

"It's been raining heavily, so we need to fix the supports on the warehouses here so they don't completely collapse."

"Wouldn't it be better just to start anew?" She wondered. Fang shook her head.

"The buildings' support rods go all the way through Oerba's stone foundation. If we wanted to make a new building we'd have to drill through the stone bedrock, and that's be even more complicated. For now, we just try to avoid total collapse until we finish the residential area." She then showed Lightning how to position the steel rods and tie them together in a dead knot with some twine. They worked surprisingly fast and before Lightning knew it, they had finished five warehouses.

"Is it really going to hold?" she asked aloud, looking at the five finished warehouses from atop the roof of a sixth. Fang grunted in affirmation as she hung upside down to re-tie two existing support rods together. She swung the right side up and faced Lightning.

"The winds will go through the warehouses rather than along the sides and if the base rods are wedged firmly enough into the ground, the floods shouldn't shift it." She looked back at their hard work, then turned back to her partner. "What say we take a break?" Lightning responded by sitting back down and stretching her arms. Fang followed suit, sitting at the edge of the ruined roof.

"So," she began, racking her brains for a suitable topic. Cerulean eyes turned to her, but she didn't see, her gaze fixed on the sky. "Any family, Farron?"

At the question, Lightning thought of Serah leaving with a slam of the front door, her mother staring at her with the eyes of a dying stranger and of two solemn faced Guardian Corps officers telling her that Marluxia Farron, father of Claire and Serah Farron had passed away.

"I have a sister. Serah."

"Oh? Younger or older?"

"Younger by three years."

"A mini-Farron, then. She'd be a year younger than Vanille. My adoptive sister," Fang added. Lightning didn't know how she felt about it, being told about Fang's life for a second time. Part of her wanted to scream. Of course she knew who Vanille was! The other said she couldn't, for no reason at all. The first part was of course Calire. And the latter was Lightning. And Lightning was in control now. But Fang was saying something again. "-Guardian Corps?"

"For Serah." She replied, hazarding a guess at the question. "My parents died and I needed to find work. Because of the war, Guardian Corps was the best place. My father worked there too."

"Not PSICOM? What's the difference anyway, Guradian Corps and PSICOM?"

"Guardian Corps is more of protecting Cocoon, we didn't go to Gran Pulse at all. Only PSICOM was in charge of attacking. And no, not PSICOM. I...didn't want to fight in the war." Because of you.

"So then PSICOM gets caught for being total liars?"

"Falsifying information, yeah."

"So...where are they now?"

"Being charged in court."

"Hmm. Seems fair." There was a pause while Lightning gathered up her courage.

"What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you-" her voice caught. Thankfully Fang didn't notice. "Did you fight?"

"I was injured in the beginning of the war." Fang rubbed her right shoulder absently. The scar from the bullet was still visible. "I led one battle, after..." she gestured around. "But only one. The war ended pretty soon after, anyway." She stood. "Well, enough slacking off, yeah?" she held a hand out to Lightning.

"Yeah." She took it.

* * *

The rain was coming down so hard she could barely see more than two meters in front of her. She jumped a little as a hand grabbed her arm. Narrowing her eyes against the water she could just make out Fang. The gran pulsian was shouting something, but Lightning could barely hear her over the cascading water. She could see Fang jerking a thumb backwards towards shelter. Oh. Right. She followed the taller woman, nearly slipping several times and increasingly grateful for Fang's steadying hand.

Once they were out of the rain, the volume dulled almost immediately, a sort of numbing background noise. Which was better, Lightning supposed, to the deafening roar. Fang was already wringing the water out of her hair. She followed suit, doing her best to rid the water. She was pulling off her own jacket when she glanced at Fang and stared. The huntress was wringing out her sari, leaving her in short little shorts and an equally short black top. Not helping was the way it clung to her really, really toned muscular lean body. Damn.

The huntress turned, and smirk. She didn't say anything, merely waggled her eyebrows with a look of unbearable smugness.

"Tch." She turned away. Not saying she didn't sneak a peek or two after. She couldn't help it. Somewhere in her mind she still saw Fang as her girlfriend. And as her girlfriend she was used to certain privileges, ogling her body being one of them. She sighed internally. She shivered a little as wind howled through the ruined building and chilled the water clinging to her skin.

"It'll be warmer if we, you know, huddle together." Fang said. Lightning didn't answer, as Fang expected her to, but she was surprised when the sergeant crossed the room to sit next to her. Like, _right_ next to her. She froze, suddenly aware of the inescapable fact the Lightning Farron was_ hot_. Then she regained herself, and, a little cautiously, lifted her arm and put it around the pink haired woman. To her utter bewilderment, the Cocoonian merely rested her head on Fang's shoulder and let out a soft hum. Fang was tempted to say something, but decided against it. They were having a moment. It would be best not to ruin it, lest Farron snap out of her docile state and started getting violent.

So they sat there, in the muted silence with the pounding of rain in the background. The prickling feeling Fang usually got around the sergeant was also muted, a fact she was grateful for. She glanced down at the woman leaning on her shoulder. Her eyelids were drooping, almost closed. Fang guessed she was tired out by the long day. Inadvertently, her thoughts were drawn to the blitzball match. How had Lightning known what to do when she herself had not known what she was doing? And that memory. Of someone with blue eyes... Fang seemed to have forgotten that she herself had also done the same things as Lightning that day and was just as tired as her. Before long, she was fast asleep.

* * *

If any Cocoonian soldier had happened to peek into the ruined building he or she would have gotten the shock of their life. The cold and aloof sergeant of the Guardian Corps fast asleep on the shoulder of a barely known pulsian stranger? Preposterous! Likewise, for any gran pulse native who saw a sleeping Fang with an arm around a Cocoonian. The so-called Ragnarok, the one who had caused the most damage to Cocoon and proclaimed its inhabitants as vipers and Cocoon as a vipers nest? Impossible! But it was. And there was no one to see it, once more the fault of their reputations as people who could take care of themselves.

* * *

Zack waited, slightly impatient, for Lightning to pick up. He was a patient man, no one could argue with that. But his patience was not being tried by Lightning, who was not answering his calls, even after the tenth try. It was by Tidus.

"When is a river like a cloud?" the blonde man asked. Zack gritted his teeth.

"I don't really care, _Tidus._" He ground out. Tidus, unfortunately, didn't get the message.

"When water falls, get it? Waterfalls?" Zack's shoulders slumped. _No more_, he pleaded internally. _Someone shut him up. _His spirits picked up considerably when a familiar voice came from his communicator.

_"Sergeant Farron here."_

"Thank Etro. Lightning, are you okay?"

_"I'm fine, Zack." _Her voice was slightly muffled by the background noise of falling rain. _"I took shelter in one of the buildings. Did you guys make it back okay?"_ He let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah. Though Tidus has been annoying the hell out of me." He heard a faint sound, like laughter. He frowned. Lightning? Laughing? "You think you can make it back soon?" There was a pause.

_"Not sure."_ Came the reply. _"But don't worry. I got Fang with me in any case. I'll try to get back, but either way, I should be okay."_

Zack was just ending the call when Tifa entered the room. She had a white towel around her neck, rubbing at her hair.

"Any luck?"

"Yeah, she's okay. Might not be able to get back anytime soon, though."

"Hmm." She murmured distractedly.

"What's wrong?"

"Rygdea just informed me that PSICOM's heads, Jihl Nabaat and Yaag Rosch have pleaded not guilty in their trials."

"What?!" Tidus sat up. Which, in Zack's opinion, the most sensible thing he had heard him say since they got back. Tifa only shrugged. "But how?" Tidus spluttered. Tifa's eyes darkened.

"I don't know. They're claiming that Gran Pulse is a real legitimate danger."

"But we've been through this before." Zack pointed out. "Guardian Corps proved them wrong." Tifa shook her head.

"We don't know what they're playing at. They could just be stalling or they might have a plan. Whatever it is, we need to be on our guard." There was a long silence. Then Tidus aptly summed up the situation.

"This sucks."

* * *

Lightning hung up, and turned to look out the broken window. The rain had lessened slightly, so that instead of it feeling like they were under water, it was merely like they were standing under a waterfall. Turning away, she walked towards the sleeping huntress. Her boots splashed in the two-inch thick water. She gently shook the brunette awake.

"Fang." The huntress stirred. Lightning watched her for a moment before turning abruptly and heading to her jacket, which was spread out on a concrete shelf.

"Farron?" The huntress called out, sleepily.

"Here." she slipped it on. It was still damp, but drier than before when it felt like she was wearing water. She sneezed. She needed to get warm before she caught pneumonia. It was a miracle she hadn't caught it already. Behind her, she heard the sounds of Fang getting ready. She turned and was slightly disappointed to see the smooth muscles covered by blue cloth. Fang sneezed rapidly, three times in a row, and Lightning shook away the disappointment.

"We'd better get a move on." Fang said. Lightning nodded. Together, they stepped out into the torrential downpour.

* * *

They made it pretty far, considering the sheer amount of water pounding on them. But about five streets away from Lightning's residence, they slipped. Suddenly, Lightning couldn't breathe. The stupid street was so flooded she was submerged. She clawed and flailed in a moment of embarrassing panic. I'm going to drown, she thought in a strange moment of ridiculous clarity in the midst of her flailing. I'm going to drown in two feet of water. What a way to go. When Fang finally managed to grab her and haul her up spluttering, she was much embarrassed.

At least Fang looked slightly worse as well, coughing up water. Fang led the way, pulling her through a short gate and they half-slipped half-trudged towards to front door. Fang fumbled with the slick doorknob and at last, they fell through the door into warmth and dryness.

Lightning had never loved the floor so much. She sighed, the side of her face pressed against the soft carpeted floor. I'll never take you for granted again, she vowed silently. She coughed. She didn't know how long had passed, but it wasn't enough.

"Fang!" she heard the exclamation from somewhere above. With a few groans, she managed to sit up and kick the door close as footsteps thumped down. She slumped against the wall, too tired to brush the strands of hair in her eyes away. She blinked slowly to get the water out and the orange blob hovering over them -Fang was still face down on the floor- focused into a red-headed girl.

"Are you alright, um..."

"Lightning." She breathed out. For some reason, she felt like laughing. What an odd feeling.

"We're fine Vanille." Came the groan from the dead person on the floor. But her face was still kissing the carpet so it came out like 'we fi lacblac'. Vanille got the gist of it. Fang rolled over. Evidently, she was feeling much like Lightning because she was laughing. A feeble one, but one nonetheless.

Lightning didn't remember much of what happened after. She remembered a lot of senseless retorts and giggling then getting into a bath, getting out of it and being shown to a room by Vanille and then falling onto the bed and into a sort of half-sleep. Sometime later, she was dimly aware of someone entering the room.

"Say, Light?" It was Fang. Evidently, she had calmed down as she wasn't laughing at random intervals anymore.

"Hmm?" Lighting replied, convinced it was a dream.

"How did you know what I was going to do earlier? During blitzball?"

"Eh? I..." Lightning found it hard to hear Fang. Which was strange. Her dreams were normally very clear. "Silly. Of course...I knew..." You told me to in my first game. It's what we always do. But she was sleepy and losing consciousness so all she managed to get out was, "you told...me... to in..." And then sleep overcame her and washed away her thoughts.

But Fang was still awake, and she frowned, thinking it over for a moment. Then she pushed it away with a shake of her head. Lightning was half asleep. She probably wasn't thinking straight. She consoled herself, saying it didn't really matter. But it did.

With a sigh, she turned away.

"Goodnight, Lightning." She shut the door and left Lightning Farron quietly sleeping.

* * *

**Anyone wondering where Rygdea and Cid are? Well, they're a little too dignified to mess around in mud. I plead guilty to the terrible joke told by Tidus. In my defence, one of my juniors laughed a little. A small chuckled like: heh heh. ****Lightning's father is called Marluxia after one of the OrganizationXIII members in Kingdom Hearts 2 mainly because his signature thing is rose petals-ish thingamajig, I think?**

**If Lightning seems a little OOC it's because she's caught between being Lightning and Claire because of Fang and being back on Gran Pulse. **

**Next update might not be for a while because I'm going to try doing NaNoWriMo, writing a novel in a month. Good luck to me! But good news is that I know more or less what my next chapter is going to be like, so waiting time shall be less.**

**Anyway, review people!**

**(\/)  
(-.- ) Unamused bunny demands you!  
(" " )***


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Final Fantasy XIII, Drama, Romance